Words, Whispered to the Clouds
by Oraeliaa
Summary: Hiccup finds quiet moments, now and then, to sit on the cliff and talk to Toothless, even if he knows his best friend can't hear him. Spoilers for the third film, but nothing all of the reviews don't give away; it was amazing and I loved it and i'm more emotional than I should be.


I cried. I cried whilst I wrote it just as i've gotten emotional every time i've seen trailer, an article...a bus poster…

* * *

"Hey Bud, can you believe she actually married me? How many months, how many _years_ did you have to hear me moan about everyone pressuring us, going on and on about it as if it were the most important thing to Viking kind...knowing that I agreed with them, knowing that I wanted her to be my Chieftess so badly it hurt but having to wait til she accepted me...Odin's beard you had to hear me moan about it for at least a year. I mean she accepted my mother's coin on the Edge! She made me work for it, that's for sure...And she did it, she finally accepted me, once we'd got Berk re-built on this...amazing island, once we'd roofed the last house and secured the bridges and fishing areas and ladders...she just sprung it on me, 'Hey Hiccup, what do you say we finally make this official"

Hiccup drifted off, running a hand down his tired face as he felt the tears prick annoyingly at the corner of his eyes like they always did when he spoke to toothless this way, his voice carried on the wind towards the direction of his best friends new home. He pulled a knee up, his good leg, resting his chin on the rough, patched fabric there. His left eye, it always started with his left eye. A small tear, as if the wind had simply agitated his tear ducts...one that he always wiped away quickly.

"Turns out bud, when you get to an island on the backs of dragons, you have to make some slight adjustments to your way of living to continue getting on and off said island. We didn't...didn't think that through, huh? I'd never imagined setting off on this journey with you that we wouldn't end it together...I still have the map; Astrid found it in my old flight jacket, squirreled it away like a follower of Loki himself - had it framed. It was hanging in my hut when I...when we woke up together the next morning. The gaps are still there, areas that I wish more than anything we'd managed to get to, though you know, she'd drawn your new home. So carefully, so detailed - the distance, the waterfall; the underground cavern...She used dyes from flower petals to have them peeking up, and right there, next to the drawing she'd had meatlug do of you both was the message 'here be dragons'"

He chuckled, ripping a handful of grass from beside him and letting them cascade into the wind that constantly seemed to embrace their new home. "Here be dragons indeed...we miss you. We all do, all of us missing all of you. Gothi still had us build her the perches, just in case. I still have your tails, all of them. We hung them in the house; our house, if you can believe it. How many times did you help us sneak out; you and Stormfly dropping Astrid and I off in the forest, making as much noise as you could elsewhere if someone were coming" he laughed, a small huff; hardly audible but closely felt. "You both looked after us, nudging us closer together, hiding us from the world when we needed to be away, and now we have our own home…"

"Do you remember?" A voice came from behind him, quiet steps betraying her as a warrior still, even now as she looked every bit a viking maiden. He would always remember how beautiful she looked that day, hair loose, her dress as white as the clouds that floated above them. Now...she wore a burgundy one today, belted thickly and covered by a jacket he'd crafted as a wedding gift. Previously, they'd all thought him mad for collecting their dragons shed scales; yet another Hiccup oddity - but her eyes had betrayed her happiness at the small piece of Stormfly he could offer her.

"Do you remember when Toothless suddenly appeared at the window, and you shooed him off, thinking he was trying to…"

"To wrestle with us, yes, I remember" the young Chief laughed, lifting an arm so Astrid could slide against his chest.

"And we heard that cough!"

"And he'd actually been trying to warn us about my mother, home early from her trip…"

The two laughed, fingers tightly intertwined against his thigh as they remembered the absolute horror of being caught by his mother. "It was even worse than when we were caught on the edge by Mala and Dagur"

Hiccup groaned. "You didn't have to talk to him about flight patterns the next day. He was grinning ear to ear...my mother just gave me the 'talk', said she didn't trust my dad to do it right"

"To be fair, I don't think I'd want to receive the talk from Stoic"

He shuddered. "Which of us should do it?"

She stilled beside him, tucking her legs up beside her, glad for the insulation in her thick boots. "Meatlug"

Hiccup turned to face her, slowly, shocked by what she'd just suggested for a moment before nodding, slowly. "You're a genius"

"I know" she chuckled, before nudging him with her elbow. "You should tell him about the tail, in…"

Hiccup nodded but remained silent, eyebrows drawn together in thought. They stayed like that for some time before he finally gave a shuddering breath and squeezed his wife's hand; continuing from where she'd suggested.

"Your main tail, the one you used to save me more times than I can remember is hung in the second bedroom, the one we're going to use for children, when the time comes...I go in there sometimes, just to stroke the fabric and remember how your scales used to feel under my hands as we flew. I'll feel safer, knowing you're with them. Your original tail, the one that was burnt, and mangled...that's hung with the shields behind the table in the main hall; so you're always with me...with us" he corrected himself, smiling gently at Astrids defiant nod. "When **we **address the village. I know I say this every time...but I miss you Bud. I wouldn't have managed this without you"

"We'd have likely exiled him by now"

"**Thank you, Astrid**...that was entirely necessary input"

"_I'm_ not going to lie to Toothless" she shrugged, laughing as he peered down at her incredulously

"You could have phrased it differently!" he groaned, hands out in disbelief.

She peered up at him, shifting herself up to plant a kiss against his slack lips. "I refuse to be anything other than honest with you. Now, say goodnight to toothless; there's a freshly roasted chicken with your name on it, courtesy of…"

"Please _god_ not the twins"

"Gobber"

He sighed with relief; lifting the fresh fish; a glistening, oily mackerel, into the air before throwing it from the cliff. "For you, Bud. Your favourite...I'll talk to you soon"

He pulled his legs in, holding his hand out to Astrid.

"I'll take the non-mackerel one, thank you"


End file.
